


A Traveler's Journal

by stellacanta



Series: Rewind. Reset. [1]
Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-21 06:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17637908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacanta/pseuds/stellacanta
Summary: There was a familiar leather-bound book in her pack when they went through the ruins. At first, she was worried that Noa was missing the journal she had given her. It was not until she flipped through the journal that she realized this wasn’t the journal she had taken so long ago off of captain Leon’s ship. No, this was something more than that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ... and here ladies and gents is the beginning of our tale. Beware of spoilers and, as alluded to, some character may appear and disappear because they are off doing their own thing ;)

All eight of them were sitting around a map in a tavern on the outskirts of Stonegard when Tressa thought to take a look through her backpack. Therion had managed to nab the map, with all its differences compared to the one they had with them, and the group was arguing in hushed tones about where they should head to first.

Alfyn had suggested that the group head up to Orewell as soon as they could, when Cyrus made an impassioned argument that they should be headed to Atlasdam to derail the plans of a soon-to-be headmaster Yvon and his assistant, Lucia. Then Therion had to mumble something about the dragonstones being stolen from House Ravus, which prompted Primrose to mention her father’s investigations into the obsidians. Olberic was of the opinion that they should stay in the Highlands near Hornburg so they prevent the kingdom’s fall. Ophilia wondered aloud about Mattias and his plans. H’aanit seemed to just be taking in everyone’s arguments for where they should go.

“Let me find something to mark everything down with,” Tressa grumbled to herself. Orewell. Bolderfall. Atlasdam. Noblecourt. Flamesgrace. There were too many places and situations to keep track off. She knew she had a pencil _somewhere_ in her mess of a pack and there was probably paper in there to. Might as well pull them out so that they could jot down a list of towns to visit and events to keep in mind.

She found those things, but stopped when she saw a certain leather-bound journal tucked away next to them. A very _familiar_ leather-bound journal. She furrowed her eyebrows. “Huh? What’s this doing here.” She pulled out the journal as a few members of the group immediately stopped talking and looked towards her. “I thought I gave this to _Noa_.”

“What has thou findest,” H’aanit asked, her head turned in Tressa’s direction.

Tressa ignored her and laid the journal on the table on top of one corner of the map. She didn’t see the way that Cyrus brightened when he saw what it was that she had in her hand. “Oh no. Does this mean that Noa is missing her journal? She’s going to be awfully- huh?” Tressa blinked as she scanned through the last page of the journal. It didn’t have anything that she wrote down in there. Confused, she flipped through all the pages, and again when she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. “This- this isn’t my journal.”

“Well I guess that means Noa still has her journal then,” Therion said in his usual nonchalant tone. “So, whose journal is it then? It certainly _looks_ like the journal you’ve always been lugging around.”

“That’s the thing,” Tressa said, still baffled about what she had in her hand. She leaned back in her chair and bit her lower lip as she tried to figure out how to explain it. “So, the beginning half? That’s all the same, it talks about Graham’s journey to Victor’s Hollow, but none of the entries that _I_ wrote are in there. In fact, some of the stuff in the later half looks like some of the pages we found in the ruins behind the gate-“

“-that’s it!” Everyone turned to stare when Cyrus slammed his hands down on the table and jumped up from his chair, his eyes bright with excitement. “Tressa, you said that journal details the travels of Graham Crossford, did you not?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, then we must simply follow along to what was written in the journal, my dear girl. After all, we have come here to lay Graham Crossford’s soul to rest and to prevent something like what had occurred to us from ever happening by making sure his path does not cross with that wretched woman are we not?”

“I-“ Tressa looked down at the journal and grimaced. H’aanit noticed the look on her face and placed a hand on her arm for comfort. “-I guess you might have a point professor, but how did it even get here? And in this state?”

“Shucks, we were brought back by the gods weren’t we?” Alfyn picked up his mug of mead and smiled into it. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they left us a little something to help us on the way. Wouldn’t be hard for them to merge the two sets of entries I reckon.”

Cyrus nodded approvingly at Alfyn’s comments. “Indeed, it would not, what does the first entry say, Tressa, my dear? Are the entries labeled with dates? Oh, it would be helpful if we could get an understanding of the time and locations of certain events as they occur-“

Therion sighed and held up a hand. “-one problem, professor.”

“And what would _that_ be Therion?”

“The dragonstones. I suspect that they’re currently in Bolderfall, but they’re not going to stay there for long. I doubt that our mutual apothecary friend would have written anything in his journal about them, but Lyblac needs them to open the Gate of Finis. Even if we were to make sure the witch never crosses paths with Graham Crossford, if she gets her hands on them, she’ll have an unsealed gate and who knows _how_ many opportunities to lure him or Kit to it.”

“Our young friend brings up a good point,” Olberic added in gruffly. “There is also the kingdom of Hornburg to worry about. She made sure it fell so that she would have access to the gate and we’ve arrived early enough to prevent its fall.”

The group fell into silence as they mulled Olberic’s words. Primrose sighed and rose from her seat to look over the map. She gestured towards Tressa for something to write with and Tressa quickly rifled through her pack for a pencil. “There’s no way around it. It’s not just Graham that we have to prevent, it’s all the things that lead up to Graham that will have to be changed in the process.” They watched as Primrose carefully bent over the map and circled certain locations and made neat notes besides them. “Graham also affected many lives on his journey and those lives will not be affected in the same way if he’s out of the picture.” Alfyn gave a wry smile as he watched his home village of Clearbrook get circled on the map. Primrose circled a few more locations and made a few more notes before she looked over the map, satisfied with her work, and handed the pencil back to Tressa. “Tressa, take the journal and head to the first location that is mentioned. We don’t know how long you have until the events are set in motion, but I suspect when the mentioned even happens, it’ll happen quickly, and you’ll want to be there to prevent it. Take H’aanit with you since her journey was directly impacted by what happened to Graham. Alfyn can probably follow you at least part of the way there.”

Primrose looked back at the map and nodded to herself. “Don’t worry about anything else, the rest of us can take care of it.” She looked towards Tressa and H’aanit and gave the two of them a warm, but bittersweet, smile. “I think we all know what our own role in things are and who better to take care of it than us? Don’t worry though, I’m sure we’ll see each other again. Maybe, I’ll even stop by when things aren’t as- intense.”

“I guess that settles it then,” Cyrus said with a sigh. “Well, I suppose I shall have to head for Atlasdam to take care of the whole Yvon situation. Not that I suspect it will take very long, perhaps I will meet up with you in, oh-“ Cyrus blinked as he looked towards Tressa and then towards the group. “-perhaps we should arrange to meet in a town somewhere we can all agree on every so often? That way we can keep track of each other and have tabs on what everyone is doing and has accomplished to date.”

“That woulde be most prudent.” H’aanit peered over the map and the names of towns and cities that had been circled. “Where does thou suggestest we meeten at and when?”

“Flamegrace is right in the middle don’t you think?” There was a cheerful smile on Ophilia’s face as she spoke. “If Olberic will be in the Highlands and Therion is planning on going to Bolderfall, then I think Flamesgrace is close enough in between the two that it shouldn’t be a challenge for either of you to make it there.”

Therion scoffed. “You might as well choose Atlasdam if you want some place that’s in the middle of where everyone will be. It has the added benefit of not being in a frozen wasteland.” The thief continued when Ophilia’s expression dropped and Cyrus seemed ready to leap in on her behalf. “I guess Flamesgrace isn’t that bad though. It’s definitely not Northreach, that’s for certain. We can meet there if everyone’s okay with it.” Everyone agreed and Primrose rolled up the map.

“Well, glad that that’s settled.” The dancer smiled at the group as she sat back down at her seat. “Another round of drinks for everyone? It would be nice to share one last meal before we all get ready to split up.” The rest of the night was spent in raucous conversation and laughter as the men somehow got into a drinking competition.

Alfyn nudged Tressa on the way back to the inn, a lightly dozing Therion slumped over one of his shoulders. “Don’t worry about us, Tressa, we’ll be fine.”

Tressa’s shoulders fell a bit. “It’s not that I’m worried, I’m just- sad that we’ll all being going on our own separate ways I guess?”

Alfyn gave a soft laugh and he patted her head. “Shucks, is that what’s got you all moopy? I wouldn’t worry about that either, good friends have a way of comin’ back to each other.”

“I guess?”

“Heh, besides, it’s gonna be a while before the Great Pestilience hits the Riverlands, and I might as well stick close by if you’re going to be checkin’ up on Graham. Never know when having an apothecary around is useful.” Therion groaned something into Alfyn’s ear which made him laugh. “Heh, this guy doesn’t like that we’re being so loud, so let’s talk more tomorrow okay?” They separated when they reached their rooms at the inn. “Well, I’m gonna be putting this guy to sleep. I hope you sleep well too, Tressa.”

“You too, Alfyn.” She stood out her room and watched as Alfyn entered the room with Therion still slumped over one shoulder. “And thanks for cheering me up,” she added in a quieter tone before she entered her room. (Her dreams that night were strange, but she was unable to remember just what was strange about them.)

…

Therion hadn’t exactly been pleased when he found out that the first entry in the journal mentioned Bolderfall. He hadn’t exactly complained about it either, putting up with their company as they started on the long road to the border town in the Cliftlands.

The group of four were taking shelter from the sun beneath a rock outcropping in the Sandlands near Sunshade. Tressa watched as Therion roughly elbowed Alfyn when the apothecary wondered aloud if they could stop by Clearbrook when they crossed into the Riverlands, he’d love to see how the town looked in the past and who he would be able to recognize. Besides her, H’aanit ignored the boy’s antics in favor of pouring some water from her waterskin over Linde, who was lethargic from the heat and panting heavily.

“Shut it you idiot,” Therion all but snarled at Alfyn. “Didn’t Primrose say not to give away our actual identities before we left? It could alter things in the past that we didn’t mean to alter.”

Alfyn gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. “Heh, she did say that didn’t she? Guess that means we should skip Clearbrook then. Wouldn’t mind some good food and good mead from the tavern, and it’d be funny to see what Zeph’s dad looked like when he was younger. Maybe, I’d even run into kid me!”

“You weren’t even born now, medicine man, I doubt you’d see either yourself or your childhood friend.”

“Heh, I guess you’re right.”

Tressa tuned them out as their conversation devolved to food and if they’d find any water if they dug beneath the sand nearby. Primrose had said that hadn’t she? The dancer had also said that it would be unwise to introduce themselves by their actual names, and that they should think of aliases to use instead. Tressa fiddled with the strap of her backpack as she turned the words that Primrose had given them before they set out on their journey west over and over again in her head. “Hey, H’aanit?”

H’aanit stopped from where she was rubbing Linde’s belly, the snow panther mewled and gave a soft questioning noise when the hunter removed her hand. She half turned her head towards Tressa. “Yes? What does thou wantest from me?”

“Have you thought about what your alias will be?” Across from them, Alfyn was now poking Therion’s cheeks and teasing their resident thief about something while Therion crossed his arms and sulked. Tressa watched with half-hearted interest as Therion turned to snap at Alfyn while the apothecary just laughed and rubbed the back of his head. “Primrose said that we weren’t to use our real names because that might cause trouble for us in the future.”

She got only silence in response and she turned to face Tressa when the huntress finally spoke. “Thou hast thoughte much about this, I take. Does it worry thee much that thou must take another name lest thou changest too much in the past?”

“Mmmm.” Tressa thought about it for a bit and shrugged. Alfyn and Therion seemed to have made up with each other over whatever argument they had and Therion seemed to be dozing off against Alfyn’s shoulder. “I don’t know if worry’s the right word.” She chewed her bottom lip as she thought about what she wanted to say. “I guess I was just wondering what I should be calling myself y’know?”

“Tess maybe,” Alfyn suggested from across them, having caught wind of their conversation. “It’s similar enough to your name that you won’t forget it and just different enough that people won’t put two and two together.”

“A most wise suggestion,” H’aanit agreed with a nod. “It would not do to choosen a name too dissimilar to one’s own, lest one forgeteth one’s chosen name. Alfyn, has thou choosest a name for thyself?”

Alfyn chuckled and nodded. “Gonna have to go with just ‘Alf’, short and sweet and no one needs to know it’s actually short for Alfyn. If they ask, I’ll probably just say it’s short for Alfons. Don’t see why I should complicate things more than they need to be.” Alfyn looked up at the sky and over at the desert before he nudged Therion awake and stood up. “Anyway, we better get going. Pretty sure the worse of the heat has passed and we don’t want to get caught out in the desert when night falls. The heat has nothing on how cold it gets when the sun’s down.”

“Thou speakest from experience,” H’aanit asked as she rose and Linde with her.

“Heh, let’s just say I thought going south through the Sunlands was a better way of getting to Goldshore, and I learned a lot from that journey.” There was a wry smile on his face as he set out on the half buried path towards the Riverlands (and from there to Bolderfall).


	2. Chapter 2

Bolderfall was a bustling city tucked away in the red cliffs that surrounded it. The city had three districts connected by a maze of bridges and staircases. The richer you were, the higher you lived in the city, culminating in the Ravus manor that overlooked the entirety of the city at the very top of the plateau the city was nestled in. The poorest lived in the lowest district, looked down upon by their “betters”.

Tressa had frowned when she was told about the layout of the town, to which Therion had only shrugged and say that it was the way the world was. (Alfyn had taken off for the taverns in the lower districts like he didn’t have a care in the world, Therion had grudgingly followed a minute later when Alfyn asked if the thief wanted to go drinking with him.) Maybe Therion saw this as being the way that world was, but she couldn’t think back to her little village in the Coastlands. Some of the townsfolk might be better off than others, but no one lorded their good fortune over others the way that some people in Bolderfall seemed to.

The one upside to being in Bolderfall was that it attracted merchants from all over. No one blinked an eye when yet another merchant decided to set up shop in the town square. Business turned out to be rather good too, even if H’aanit and Linde decided to keep Tressa company for the day.

Surprisingly, the snow leopard didn’t scare people off from pursuing the decent sized collection of weapons and goods Tressa had managed to procure through their journey. Some people even stopped by just to admire Linde’s glossy coat. People from the Forestlands seemed to stop by Bolderfall quite often, seeing at it was just on the border and not all that far away from S’warki.

Alfyn and Therion joined up with them by late afternoon when Tressa was just about to close up shop, her money pouch filled with more leaves than before. “I asked around a bit and I got us an inn discount since we’re gonna be staying a while. They’re only willing to let us have two rooms though, so Therion and I are gonna share one and you and H’aanit can have the other, apparently, they’re pretty busy around this time of year.” Therion grunted as he sat on the ground next to H’aanit. He pulled out an apple from underneath his shawl and buffed it on the purple cloth before taking a large bite out of it. “Also managed to get some news on Graham Crossford. He’s currently living in the middle district with his wife, they got married a few months back seems like.”

“And thou gotest this information simply from visiting the alehouse,” H’aanit asked, a tone of incredulity in her voice. “I did not knowe that the alehouse had such wealth of information in them.”

Therion spoke before Alfyn could, his voice muffled by the bite of apple he was still chewing. “People talk when they’re in the tavern. People talk more when they’re drunk.” Therion swallowed and continued to speak. “You’d be really surprised at what people let slip at the tavern sometimes.”

“And thou art not makingest a jape at my expense? I admit I finde it hard to believe that thou art not simply givingest an excuse to getest drunk during the day.” H’aanit went back to taking inventory of her hunting supplies as Therion shrugged and took another bite of his apple.

“Heh, actually this guy didn’t drink all that much if you can believe it, but I didn’t get _all_ that from the folks at the tavern. Got the inn discount from someone I met while taking a stroll around town.” Alfyn leaned down to help Tressa pack up her things after a successful day of selling. Around them a few other merchants were milling about and either doing the same or talking to one another. Alfyn was just about done with helping Tressa pack up when someone ran into him. “Shucks, I’m sorry about that, shoulda been more aware of my surroundings-“

“-oh no, the fault is mine,” a familiar voice interrupted him. In shock, Alfyn turned around and meet with the eyes of one Graham Crossford, although younger than he had remembered seeing him. Therion’s eyes narrowed when he saw Alfyn freeze up suddenly. “I did not mean to run into you like that. I thought I saw some rare medicinal plants being sold here, but errands seemed to have kept me until too late since it seems that you’re closing. I should have stopped by earlier.”

“Rare medicinal plants huh,” Tressa cut in smoothly, a sparkle in her eyes that indicated her merchant’s sense of an impending deal with tingling. “You wouldn’t be talking about these now would ya?” She grabbed a bundle out of one of the many packets of her oversized rucksack to show to the man. “I was also helping my good friend Alf here sell some of his tinctures and salves, and I don’t suppose that would interest you?”

The man looked first at the plants she produced and then at Alfyn, an intrigued look in his eyes. “Your good friend Alf you say? I trust that I’m talking to a fellow apothecary then?”

“Indeed, you are although I feel like I still have a lot to learn about our trade.” Alfyn gave a nervous laugh before he held out a hand for the man to shake. “Alfons Mossbriar, pleased to meetchya.”

“Alfons hmm? Well, I’m Graham Crossford-“ Tressa yelped when she felt her grip on the plants slip and watched as the plants fell towards the ground as if in slow motion. Therion happened to grab them before they landed on the ground and he handed them back to the merchant, a warning to be careful grumbled under his breath. The man didn’t seem to react to the turn of events. “-pleased to meet you as well.” Graham gave Alfyn’s hand a firm shake before he let go. “Will you be staying in Bolderfall long? I would be more than happy to treat you to a round of drinks at the tavern and pick your brain a bit on what you’ve learned.”

“Shucks you’d do that? Heh, I might have to take you up on that sometime.” Alfyn gave a wry smile before he nodded towards Tressa. “I’m accompanying my friend Tess here and I think she’s planning on sticking around for a while so I’m sure you’ll see my mug around town plenty of times.”

“Excellent. I look forward to our next meeting-“ Graham turned towards the plants that Tressa held tightly in her hands. “-now let’s see about those plants. Ah, wonderful you do have honeywisp and lemon essence, I thought I recognized that shade of yellow. How much for twenty of each?”

It was fortunate that Tressa had a trader’s instinct beaten into her head from a very young age. If not for her father’s training, she was sure she would have stuttered and dropped the plants, again. “Well the honeywisp was rather hard to find and I happened to find the lemon essence pretty close to here. How about 100 each for the honeywisp and 50 each for the lemon essence? That comes out to a total of 3000 leaves, mister.”

“3000 leaves it is then.” Therion exchanged a looked with Alfyn who stood just off to the side as Graham reached for his money pouch at his side and began to count out 3000 leaves. Alfyn pressed his lips into a wry line and shrugged. The leaves felt satisfyingly cool as they hit Tressa’s outstretched hand and a bundle of 40 plants were handed off to Graham. Therion and Alfyn looked away from each other at the exchange.

“Pleasure doing business with ya.”

“Ah the pleasure is mine and do let me know if you happen across any more useful plants. I would love to have a look at them. Do take care you four.” Graham gave them a small wave before he took a staircase down to a platform beneath them and was soon gone from view.

Therion soon spoke, asking the question they all had on their mind, “what just happened?”

…

“So that was Graham Crossford,” Therion said with the group gathered around a tavern table later that night. He slammed the mug hard on the table after taking a large drink from it. “Does anyone want to tell me what in the hells are we supposed to do now?”

“I mean he was a pretty nice guy and all,” Alfyn chimed in with a nervous grin on his face. “Don’t know why you’re getting so worked up over bumpin’ into him. It was _bound_ to happen sooner or later the longer we stayed here.”

“In case you forgot, _Alfyn_ , our goal here was to observe him-“ Therion gestured forcibly at Tressa who drew into herself just that much more. At her side, H’aanit gave Therion a disapproving side glance and placed a hand on Tressa’s shoulder. “-until a certain event happened and not get involved until then. _I’m_ supposed to make sure the dragonstones don’t get into the wrong hands. How in the fuck are we supposed to fix this situation now?”

“Shucks, well I don’t know _Therion_ ,” Alfyn said, his voice rising slightly above Therion’s. “I know it looks like we’re in deep shit with this situation and all-“

“-deep shit doesn’t even _begin_ to cover it medicine man-“

“-but maybe this is a blessin’ in disguise! I could, I dunno, tell him about findin’ the ogre eagle in the Forest of Rubeh so he doesn’t waste so much time searchin’ for a cure? You don’t have to act like runnin’ into him now is a bad thing, y’know. Yeah, sure, the timin’ might not be great, but we could still make it work.” Alfyn took a swig from his mug and watched as Therion deflated a bit. The thief grumbled a bit as he pushed some food around on his plate before finally scooping up something with his fork and popping it into his mouth.

“Thou knowest that if thou art worried about the dragonstone thou canst simply leave the group,” H’aanit asked once tempers had cooled. “ ‘Tis true that someone should watcheth the dragonstones, but it is not necessary that the person who watcheth the stone also must worry about the dealings of one Graham Crossford. Just because we are in the same city does not mean we must stayen in one group if our respective goals do not align.”

“We just got in town and already you’re suggesting we split up,” Alfyn asked incredulously. He finished the rest of his mead and placed the mug down on the table with a satisfied sigh. “Couldn’t we stay together for just a while longer?”

“Well, I suspecte that we all shal sharen a room in the inn while we are here. Perhaps we shal goon about our own tasks during the day, but during the night we can still enjoy each other’s company.” At her feet, Linde made a small noise as if in agreement. H’aanit smiled and fed Linde a small scrap of meat from her plate. The snow leopard happily sat down to chew on the scrap fed to her.

“Heh, I guess you have a point there. No point in having to find another room, right?”

“I’m sorry guys,” Tressa moaned not a moment later from her seat. The group turned to look at her. “This is all my fault, if I hadn’t-“

“-no if anything, I’m the one at fault here,” Alfyn quickly reassured her. “I kinda did bump into the man like that and if I weren’t blocking his way, he probably would have saw you were closin’ up and just left.” Therion snorted and muttered something about Alfyn being a big oaf and of course it was his fault under his breath. “It’s fine Tressa, none of us blame you and we’ll fix this right up, just you see.” Tressa gave him a grateful look, but it was on that seemed half-hearted at best. “Now, how about you finish the rest of your food. Tavern food ain’t always great, but this time it hits the spot I gotta say. Don’t you go beatin’ yourself up over this now, Therion’s just being a big grump, but we’ll get through this just you see.” He gave her a big smile to show confident he was in his words.

Tressa weakly smiled back and turned to her plate of food that she had barely touched. Alfyn’s optimism was heartwarming, even if there was a nugget of doubt in the back of her mind that they had already messed things up before they even started.


End file.
